This afternoon, my third daughter got a call from our local librarian saying that she had won a drawing, and could come pick out a book of her choice. When we arrived at the library, we found that she had also won a second drawing for two tickets for our upcoming state fair. Lucky girl! What's neat is that my husband and I were just talking of going to the fair, as our oldest will be competing there with her fire department explorer group. Two less tickets to buy is grand!

On the work front, I got a call today that we can put in a bit of extra hours this week and next, as we are preparing for a big open house on the 25th, as well as school's start in September. This is in addition to the 'ready for Kindergarten' classes I'm already doing these next two weeks. They didn't have to ask me twice! May our luck continue...take care!

We're back from our camping trip up north. It was so fun and relaxing. We spent lots of time in the water - swimming in Lake Superior and under Gooseberry Falls. Roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over campfires at night. My second daughter discovered a talent at making pancakes, so we had several breakfasts featuring her artistic creations (round is boring, mom!)

During the requisite laundry catch-up, I spent time gathering together my youngest's outgrown clothes, as well as checking out the rest of the girls' closets. Altogether I had eight bags of clothes, shoes and miscellaneous household clutter to donate at our favorite place. Yesterday afternoon, we made a run to make the donation, as well as check out their thrift shop for clothes for school. I told the cashier that we were leaving with almost as much as we donated. Well, only four bags...but good deals nonetheless. Still looking for some jeans for the two youngest, but not desperate yet.

We're almost school-ready. I have the bulk of the school supplies bought (just a couple things that I need from the art and office supply stores.) My mother-in-law offered to buy the girls their gym shoes - the oldest and youngest are done, still have the middle two to do. Yay all around!

The next two weeks, I'm working the 'Ready, Set, Kindergarten' class. I need to get out of vacation mode, and back to real life! I have to plan out meals for the next two weeks, make the gocery list, and then head to the bread thrift and grocery stores. I'll definitely be out of vacation made by today's end! Take care!!

I worked earlier this week, and I'll go in today. Our classroom space is moving around, and today we're moving our parent resource library to a different room. I'll head over in a bit - we're making an early start as the temps are predicted to be 100 today, and there is no a/c at the school. I'll be readying our program's fall registration brochure for mailing next Monday, so bit by bit I'm accumulating a few hours this summer.

We've been lucky in being able to hang out laundry almost everyday this summer, though the dryer usage savings is probably offset (or exceeded) by fan usage. If we can get through our 100s of the weekend, the forecasters are predicting 90s by Tuesday - oh yeah!

The girls have an afternoon rehearsal, and then eat bag dinners before tonight's performance. I have the makings for sandwiches, and can scrounge enough for the rest of their meal. I may try to do some grocery shopping while they are at rehearsal, or if not, I'll do it tomorrow. My list is ready, including meals at home for next week and for camping the week after. I'll freeze the meat for camping.

Last night we went shopping for a new clothesline (it's ancient, and was hanging by its last reinforcing middle threads, which did thankfully hold out to the end!) We also picked up a griddle and new coffee pot that we can use on the campfire. We had been making do with an old whistling tea kettle, but the plastic parts melted into the pot our last camping trip. All I'll say is that I never melted plastic when I put the keetle on, but I did appreciate that someone was trying to help. Now HE can help with the new pot, and there's no plastic whatsoever to melt! Anyway, we boil a lot of water camping, for consumption and washing, so now we can all have cocoa at the same time or have plenty of hot water for the dishes. I know, I get excited over silly little things!

Stay cool....take care!

I'm working the last week at the Spec. Ed. extended school year job. Next week I'm prepping and mailing out our early childhood fall brochure. Then the two middle weeks in August, I work a pre-Kindergarten class to ready the children entering Kindergarten in September. Bit by bit, it all helps pay the bills, while allowing me lots of time for the family.

I've got my assignment for the fall - four mornings a week in a pre-Kindergarten class, and two afternoons in a preschool special ed class. I'm thrilled to know this early what I'll be doing for the school year, and very happy with the assignments.

With fall shaping up nicely, I'm planning on enjoying the remainder of summer. It's still warm today, though no over 100 heat index. After I get the clothes hung on the line outside, I think we'll head to the lake for the afternoon. Dinner will be again grilled - still too hot to cook in the kitchen (oh darn...)

Stay cool (it seems everyone is in a heat wave this summer)& take care!

Getting settled into the new work schedule, having the girls off from school and enjoying summertime activities has left me with less time to make entries here. But everything is going great!

I'll end up receiving continuous paychecks throughout most of the summer, due to working at least some each pay period. Some checks will be tiny, but nonetheless welcome! I'm almost half way through my summer position. I'm enjoying the work with the special ed. middle and high schoolers for these few weeks, but I really, really appreciate my regular position in the preschool.

I'm continuing to grocery shop every two weeks, and have been keeping to budget. There is a difference in having the girls home, though. They are slowly figuring out that if they go crazy the first week, there isn't so much left for the second week. It isn't the food I use for meals, it's more the 'fun' stuff, like ice cream and snacks and stuff for baking. There were a couple times last week that I could have ran for things at the grocery, but I held my ground to make the point of spreading out the consumption (plus we were hardly going to starve!) I grocery shop today, so it'll be interesting to see what happens these next two weeks. (Gosh, I'm probably sounding like an evil, conniving mom, but I promise you, I won't let my girls suffer malnutrition!)

The girls had birthday money to spend, so we went to Target yesterday. They did well, spending a bit for fun. They saved some too, when they realized there wasn't anything they needed or wanted right now. As for me, I bought a box fan on sale - we had our old one fall out of the window it was in, and some of the blades broke. I didn't need or want anything else either.

Happy July! Take care!

...since my last entry! And for good reason, as I started the new summer job on Monday. Challenging, but very rewarding work. I drop off my oldest to her job at the school pool, and then head over to the middle school, where the extended school year classes are (it's the only school with a/c.) The students run the gamut of abilities - autism (I think of contrary1 often!) to physical disabilities to blindness to Down's Syndrome. My second daughter takes care of my two youngest, and I'm home by noon. So far, it's working out great!

The weather has been holding out well for hanging out the laundry, and all meals continue to be at home. This is good, as I don't want to be so busy as to lose out on the savings of these activities. (Hey, I don't make that much at this summer position to slack off!)

We've also come to a less stressful level with my daughters' medical expenses, thankfully. Three visits a week are currently covered by our insurance, and we pay the $25 co-pay for each. One visit a week, we pay at an agreed-upon (with the facility) amount of $35, which we aren't putting through the insurance. They have written up an appeal to our insurance for more visits for my oldest, and then we'll get credited $10 for the $35 visits. We will run out of my oldest's visits covered by our insurance by the end of July. If the appeal doesn't go in our favor, the medical facility has agreed to charge us at $35 for all the visits once our oldest's insurance runs out. My third daughter's number of visits won't run out before the end of the year, so we'll continue paying them at the co-pay amount. I'm so thankful this is at least nearer to what we can afford, given how expensive these visits are uninsured. In addition, we have about $200 a month for all prescriptions. I would have never guessed our medical expenses would become such the beast it has! I know we're extremely lucky to be able to afford the care needed by our daughters, and to be able to keep current on those accounts. (Pooh - it's just not a very fun way to spend near a quarter of our money...enough pouting already!)

Back to the laundry, and need to pick up my oldest at the pool...Take care!

I submitted an application for a special ed position for summer school last week, and I got the call that I can have the position, if I wish. I do, I do! I'll be working with secondary students with cognitive disabilities and autism. I have worked with preschoolers up to 5th grade, mostly autism and down's syndrome, but they were excited to have me. I'm looking forward to this too.

The last summer I worked was back in 1989, because the next summer my oldest was born. I start next week, working three hours in the morning, four days a week for 4 1/2 weeks. I'll go in with my oldest, who's working at the school pool. I'll be home by lunch time. I had discussed this job with the three younger girls, and they were all willing to help out if I applied and got this job. From summers past, they'll most likely spend the morning lounging and playing, and I'll probably have to remind them to get dressed when I get home.

A bit of money to put toward our medical expenses, without sacrificing my time with the girls. (Still an at-home mom at heart.) What a wonderful blessing for us!

I was scheduled to work yesterday morning, but then was asked if I wanted to help set up a room for the summer program in the afternoon. I didn't need to be asked twice!

Last night the girls and I worked on the teacher gifts to distribute tomorrow. I'm relieved, because the ideas weren't too forthcoming this year. The girls spent the evening baking brownie bites, and will bag them up tonight, along with writing up the notes. The expense on this is well within our budget, thankfully.

In a bit, I'll head over to the care conference for my mom. My brother is attending with me. Hopefully, we can figure out a way to get Mom out of the wheelchair, and upright using her walker. The sore on her foot is healed, except that the dead skin disk hasn't completely detached (and it probably won't because they won't let her use the foot, which would help knock it off.) Mom is always setting off the alarm as she tries to get up from the wheelchair. She is very ready to be walking too. Setting off alarms hasn't helped any with her agitation level.

After the meeting, I'm getting together with a friend at a local coffee shop. I haven't seen her in a bit, so it'll be great to visit with her. I will offer to treat, as I received some gift certificates to the shop from a couple of the preschoolers as end of the school year gifts. Looking forward to this treat!

First I need to get the laundry on the line, so I had better get going. Enjoy your day and take care!

Yesterday was the last day of my MWF preschool class. There will be some room clean-up and staff meetings over the next couple weeks, but then I'll be done until August's Get Ready for Kindergarten class.

Laundry, cleaning up around the house and bill paying are rounding out the day so far. What an exciting life I have!

The putzing part of my day included calculating our medical expenses. Including my husband's OT so far this year, we've paid out 18% of our income to medical expenses (hospital and dr copays and prescriptions.) If we hadn't had the OT, we would have spent 25% of our income - ugh! (Keep thinking positive thoughts...um, at least we know where all of our efforts in reducing the other expense areas of our budget are going.) Enough putzing with the budget for today!!

Good news - We're almost ready to head out camping Friday after the girls get home from school. We packed the van with the tent, sleeping bags and cooking gear last weekend. We need only add the food and clothes. The campsite is at a state park a couple hours from us. It's on the St. Croix River (divides MN and WIS.) We'll set up camp, bike, hike and canoe. The weather in predicted to be wonderful too. Looking forward to our first camping trip for the year! Take care!!

Worked extra today - getting ready for the Tuesday-Thursday preschool class' final day field trip on Thursday. The kids were squirrely today, though luckily, we could play a long while outside.

Payed off the last of the hospital bills from March. The facility that my oldest goes to weekly (and sometimes more often) is helping us look into a way to continue her treatment. Our insurance contract limits what they'll cover in my daughter's treatment, and the cost is way beyond what we can afford. We're getting close to when all of the treatment will be our responsibility.

The place has offered to write up an appeal, though the insurance company says there would no point, as our contract has limitations. I figure there's no harm in doing it. Another possibility is to see if United Way has anything to offer - again the facility is looking into this. And last is taking out a medical loan, with a fee reduction, and making payments. At least, there are some options for us. I've been searching online for help beyond what medical insurance will pay for. I haven't been successful yet, but am still searching and calling around. I'm getting quite the lesson on the ins and outs of this new to us insurance!

I tried out a new rhubarb muffin recipe that the girls have been eating over the last few mornings. Very good! The continual rain of late has my rhubarb growing to massive size. Almost daily, I pick, and either use and freeze the stalks - a bumper crop!

Well, there is sun outside - a rare sight lately. The lawn is definitely overdue on mowing...so out I go! Take care!

Worked extra again today - finished the last touches on the Mother's Day gifts the preschoolers will take home to their moms tomorrow.

Trying to make some decisions about my oldest's medical path. I feel like we're at the limit of what we can handle to pay for (our portion after the insurance pays.) We visit with the dr today - maybe there will be more info to make a clearer decision about what we should do. All I know is my head is swimming from trying to work out the figures against what funds we have available, talking to the insurance company, and yes, helping my daughter get through it all too. Insurance seems to be a big game that I wish had easier instructions to wallow through.

The busyness of the day continues through the afternoon and evening. In a bit I pick up my oldest for her dr appt. Afterwards, we head from there to the schools again to pick up my two youngest from each of their Girl Scout meetings. We eat a very quick meal at home. Then head back to the school again for the 5th-8th grade year-end band concert, which include my two middle girls. Then onto the homework - yikes! Finally, the two youngest and I need to pack for an event at the Girl Scout camp this weekend. We stay overnight on Friday and spend the day doing activities - and I'm so not in the right frame of mind for it! I will give myself a stern talking to, and make a great effort for the girls. (Grumble, grumble - GS is great for the girls, but why, oh why is everything packed in at the end?? Ok, all done with that.)

Boy, enough of the whining for me...take care!

The two girls, who were sick yesterday, have recovered and headed off to school this morning. So far, no one else in the family has shown any signs of the illness. What luck so far!

I got a call last night to cover one of my co-workers on Wednesday over the lunch period. A few more dollars on my paycheck in face of the upcoming drought while I'm off for the summer.

It's been so crazy busy lately, between working extra hours and attending to the school year-end activities. It's hard to get to all of the frugal things I usually like to do. Luckily, we tend to live without, rather than throw money at what we're lacking - too busy to even spend! I'm relying heavily on my trusty crockpot and meal plan - haven't eaten out yet, in response to being too tired and busy. A big yay, as this is where money has flew out of our hands in the past.

Per family request - no crockpot dinner tonight. Once we're home today, we can stay home. I took some chicken out to defrost in the frig, and we'll grill it up. Shaping up to be a relaxing sort of evening...well, of course, there is the homework and school projects. At least we can be home and not in the van!

Enjoy your day...take care!

My oldest and third stayed home from school due to yucky tummies. (Please don't let this spread!!)

I went to work, and was able to sign up for some extra hours later this month and in June. Dollars to my paycheck!

Going to pull some more rhubarb for baking - it's growing like mad.

Time for the homework onslaught.

Take care!

I got a call today from the school's childcare program, asking if I wanted some sub hours. I prefer the preschool setting, but am willing to try doing the childcare. The director needed someone for earlier today, but I couldn't due to an orthodontist appt for my daughter. The second time was for Friday afternoon, but my oldest has a dr appt. I think I have the spending portion of my life down pat - need to work on that income part!

Oh well, I'll let her know when I'm generally available for the rest of this school year, and possibly a little to help her out this summer. Though after being at home with the girls for almost 12 years, and now only working when they are in school, I'm not too keen about being away when they're home. I'm blessed to even have the option of being home with them in the summer and school holidays. Very blessed.

Good news - we're still holding at seven pets at our house. The youngest brought home a note, stating that the crayfish her class have been raising are needing good homes. I looked at her, and she emphatically said, "No way, they pinch!" We did play a little joke on Daddy, though. He panicked for a moment at the thought of adding a crayfish to our menagerie. It's good to know we draw the line at crustaceans.

Enjoy your evening. Take care!

...a few items crossed off the to-do list! This is quite the accomplishment, as I'm beyond tired. The weather is hardly helpful, being chilly and drizzly.

It took much effort to drag myself out of bed. I got the girls off to school, and managed the morning chores before I left for work. The worms were emancipated from our sensory table today!! They are now enjoying their new lives in our school's garden beds.

After work, I ran some errands, made numerous calls to set up various appointments, and cleaned up around the house. Nothing too exciting, except these things get to be crossed off my list.

Looking forward to a fairly quiet weekend. Tonight is homemade pizza and a movie at home. Tomorrow morning my second daughter has a band ensemble competition - she is part of a clarinet duet playing a piece by Mozart. In the afternoon, my two youngest have a grandma/grandaughters tea (an early part of my MIL's Mother's Day gift.)

If I'm looking for more to do, there IS the rest of that neverending list. Enjoy your weekend! Take care!!

I worked extra today so one of my coworkers could get off early to visit her new grandchild. She's a young grandma. I'm 43, and I think she's only 2 or 3 years older than me. I can't even imagine being a grandma that young, but what fun she is having! It better be a while before I'm a grandma!!

I work the last Kindergarten Connection night tonight. It's hard working on school nights with the girls' homework and all, but extra dollars on the paycheck will be much appreciated.

In a bit, I pick up my daughter for her medical appt - actually she'll see two doctors, with two co-pays. I keep telling myself to be thankful for medical care and insurance, but handing over the copays week after week gets a bit discouraging. At least the money isn't being spent on frivalous things.

Got our latest electrical bill, and month by month, it's been getting lower. We have natural gas for the furnace, water heater, dryer and oven. So being vigilant about what's on (and could/should be off,) swapping out incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescent, and searching out those hidden usage sources is paying off. As with most things in my life, there is still room to improve, but we're headed in the right direction.

Enjoy your day! Take care!!

It's near 70 and sunny gorgeous.

Got a bit done this morning. I washed and hung the laundry on the line outside. Dinner was readied to pop into the crockpot - scalloped potatoes and ham. Got the girls off to school, then headed into work.

Paint, paint, and more paint! And believe it or not, one of the teachers put worms in the sensory table. I was the advocate for these lowly worms (note, the I who had to hide being a little squeamish about our little visitors.) The preschoolers will be murmuring 'be gentle' for every worm they come across. I undrowned all the grass the kids planted in cups. More water isn't better, teacher?! But I got through it all unscathed. Worked a little extra today too.

Visited my mom after work. I took her outside for a walk, well I pushed her in the wheelchair. She (and us!) are so anxious to have her foot heal, so she can again receive physical therapy, and get back to using her walker. Feet take forever to heal, and I know they are being very careful to have it fully healed. On our walk, she kept talking about a house across the street from the nursing home - I couldn't figure out what it was about the house, but it was quite the engaging topic for her. There were new baby birds in the home's aviary to admire and talk about too.

Wednesday is our busy day - the two youngest have bell choir practice at church and the oldest has confirmation. My second went to church with the neighbors. A check on the homework situation, and a few more chores before dinner to accomplish.

Have a great rest of today! Take care!!

...when you're having fun!

Actually, life hasn't been too bad lately, just plain busy. The couple times I tried to make a new entry, I couldn't log in, so I'm glad it's working out for me today.

We had a fun long Easter weekend. My third daughter came home from her school trip on Thurday night, feeling very successful (no tearful calls home from a homesick girl!), tired and with lots of stories of her adventures. On Friday, everyone got up early to do yardwork in our beautiful summery Spring weather. Afterwards, we had moved into the house to clean and generally spruce up the interior. On Easter day, we had my husband's parents over for noon dinner, and later went to visit my mom at the nursing home (she's still in a wheelchair for her December hip break, and we would not have been able to get her to our door even, plus her stage of Alzheimer's makes it so hard to take her anywhere anymore - she gets so unsettled and anxious, and just wants to go back home. Can you tell I feel bad about this? This is the first Easter dinner without her. I know there is nothing to be done, but to do what's best for her. It just takes a bit of getting used to, I guess.) We took her dog along for the visit - she loves that old dog! It was a nice visit with my mom - the dog and girls always bring my mom a lot of attention, so she had fun being at the center of it all.

So it was back to work and school for us all today. I work extra this week - the last session of Kindergarten Connection. I also said yes to working a two-week session in August to get the kids ready and raring to go to Kindergarten in September. I'm off in the summer, and by August a bit of paycheck will be welcome.

We've seen online all that the insurance will pay toward my oldest's hospital stay in March, so will be prepared for the bills when they are sent out. We have the money set aside.

I'm getting a little edgy about upcoming expenses. Hospital charges - ok. Ongoing medical appointments - 25-75 per week - have been managing, but have been putting off the more non-pressing medical appts, and that can't go on too much longer. (Still saying to myself - be thankful that there is insurance!!)

My two middle girls are going to our church's camp in Wisconsin in June. My oldest is going on a mission trip to Wyoming in July. Between the girls' savings and work (at the pool and babysitting) and youth accounts at the church, I'm estimating that the amount I'll pay out to be $200-300, or so altogether.

We are camping over Memorial weekend - paid for! Just the gas (no small expense anymore!) to get there and we bring along food. We try to camp a couple other times over the summer - we'll have to see how we stabilize after paying off the hopsital and manage the ongoing medical expenses, once I'm not getting a paycheck.

Also, we got notice that my second daughter was recommended for a school trip to Wahington DC next Fall as an 8th grader. Her older sister did the trip, and we thought it was a wonderful experience. My oldest paid for over a third of the trip by working at the pool as a water safety aide in lessons. My second is applying for an aide position in our commnuity ed program over the summer - that would really be great news in making this trip a reality.

Well, enough for this entry - not the best at short and sweet! It's a beautiful day here in Minnesota, one that you dream about at Winter's darkest. I definitely need to find some puttering to do outside! Take care!

It seems all I've been doing is running around crazy each day and crashing into bed each night.

I've been working extra this week, every day so far. Monday was our 1st Kindergarten Connection night for kids starting Kindergarten next Fall. Busy, but always fun to see the newest crew so excited to be at the 'big school'. Tuesday was a planning day for the rest of our preschool classes for this school year. And today I filled in for a sick co-worker and for another who had a planning meeting. Whew - the extra hours are always nice on the paycheck.

Family-wise, for my oldest, we had a medical appt, as well as a meeting at her school for some accomodations requests. All went well, and my worries are lessening a bit each day. My youngest came home early from school today with a headache (think it may be allergy caused.) Another medical appt tomorrow for the oldest, with more info of what will be ahead for us. And trying to calm the nerves of my third as she prepares for a school trip to an environmental learning center in northern MN next week. She has always been a homebody and slow to even sleeping over at friends' houses. She is excited to go, and we're spending a lot of time reassuring her and talking things over. A mom's work is truly never done!

Money-wise, I'm happy to say that with a little vigilance and planning, my grocery budget is still where I like having it. We're spending about $100-110 a week for 6 people and 7 pets, as well as paper, cleaning and health/beauty (not including presciptions and co-pays.) And this is good with another round of medical bills coming at us and repairs on both of our vans. Gosh, when it rains, it downpours (it's April, I guess - hoping for some good May 'flowers'!)

Thinking ahead - I'll work until the end of May, maybe into the first week of June with room cleanup. Summers I'm off with my girls. While most of our summer days are low-key and no-cost, there are those other days. Summer money plans include one oldest going on a mission trip, and two middle going to our church camp in Wis. Swim lessons for the youngest two. We are camping and canoeing over Memorial weekend, and would like to camp at least two more times over the summer. Then there is getting ready for next year's school year. With this Spring's medical bills, we'll have to either revise some plans for the summer or keep tabs on the spending while working whatever extra we can. Feeling pretty hopeful - the difference a year makes when there is a better handle on the money.

Wow, what a long-winded entry! Take care!

Wow, did we get socked with a snowstorm. But, hey, it's March in MN.

I called in to say I couldn't come in to work because my two youngest were sick. I knew many from outer lying areas weren't coming in, but with combining classes, it sounded ok. Then my husband came home sick. I called in to my school to see how they were set - they wanted me in! I ended up staying the whole day. So extra hours for my check! Tomorrow I have a first aid renewal class to take (no preschool classes in session.) I came home to find out that my husband had to get daughter #2 from school due to a sore throat. There are more sick than healthy at our house - I'm disinfecting everything!

Yesterday there was no snow left on the ground, today there is heavy, deep snow everywhere! Snow is so hard to take in March...at least it doesn't last too long this time of year. Take care!

It's Friday! Got through this very long week, and am looking forward to the weekend. I just heard from my husband - he finished his training, and is now driving the six hours back to home.

With my husband out of town, the girls and I have been very laid back with our dinners. Last night, we lucked out and went to a community meeting with a potluck. There were pizzas from Domino's, subs from Subway, as well as the best of potluck dishes and incredible desserts. They were looking for a good turnout, including kids. So the girls and I happily obliged! It was very fun to catch up with everyone in our small town.

Worked extra hours today, swapping out books and curriculum items from our preschool room. Straightened up room, and more on the paycheck! I also have some training sessions that are coming up - these are paid hours and also take care of the state requirements for ceu's.

Plans for the weekend:

My third daughter has her 1st Communion on Sunday. She has her retreat for it on Saturday, followed by a dinner with the kids and their families (no cost, hosted by the church. Yay, another meal I'm not cooking!) I want to get her a necklace with a cross, to commemorate the occasion - not too expensive, but nice. I'll do that tomorrow.

We may try to do a family outing (free, except for gas) on Sunday after church - maybe, maybe not. We'll see how we feel about it then... Definitely, doing some downtime - it has been a wildly busy week.

Otherwise, no spending, other than the necklace and the weekly gas fill-up, is planned.

Have a nice weekend! Take care!!

Today ended up being a fairly busy day. The preschool kids were wild! We took them outside for a longer playtime, then sent them home - yay! Worked a little extra after class exchanging the toys in our room. Too many fire trucks crashing around the room - though we may have replaced them with even crazier toys (other types of vehicles - we reserve the option to remove any troublesome toys - darn, not kids, though.) Next week I work extra for our upcoming Kindergarten registration and info night (our program organizes this because we're better suited for caring for all the children.)

Next week also my husband leaves for some training for work. He'll have the travel and motel paid, but will have to provide money for meals (will be reimbursed.) We knew this was coming, so are set for him, except that he would like a new swimsuit for the pool. His was so old the waistband elastic crackled, but didn't stretch back - not a good shape for a suit to be in!

Planning ahead -

Starting to make out a grocery list and plan meals (for the two weeks.)

Need to fill the van again.

The older three girls are working at a youth group fundraiser at our church on Sat.

I need to shop for that above mentioned swimsuit and a birthday gift for MIL.

Bring MIL her gift on Sun.

Go to the library.

Clean up a bit around here.

Help my husband get packed.

...well, I'm glad I enjoyed last weekend's quiet... Take care!

I feel like all I've been doing is working lately. But I know the extra hours won't last forever, so I'll keep doing them while they are still available. Got back a bit ago from working our preschool's Super Saturday - several hundred kids and adults came. It took a bit to get the rooms back to normal, but it was fun to see everyone having a good time.

My husband got paid yesterday, and my check will be in the account on the 15th. All our OT and extra hours have made it possible to keep up with the interest free payments to the hospital and doctor. Just one more payment to the hospital and two more to the dr - yay! I will be so glad to not have them hanging over our heads.

Our next goal is to then funnel the extra money in paying off the cc debt. We haven't used the card in a long time, and now we are serious about getting it paid off.

Need to send off two more mail-order prescriptions. Got gas for the car - $41. Need to go to the grocery store - am thinking of trying to bump it up to two weeks. I spend a bigger amount, but when averaged over two weeks, the total is quite a bit less. Need to finish the shopping list.

A trip to Target is planned this weekend. My 3rd daughter turns 11 soon, and will have a swim, pizza and sleepover party next Friday. We swim at the school's pool for very cheap. Then we head home for homemade pizza and cake. The girls watch movies (that we own) and hardly sleep. We hand out party favors, but make it cheap. Being it's so close to Valentine's Day, I saw cute little heart decorated tin pails at the $ spot at Target, and we'll add a fun trinket or two, and a little candy. At our house, it's the birthday party down to a science. We've done this one over and over through the years, and the girls don't tire of it.

It seems that February just started, and here it is the 8th already.

I've been working a little extra here and there. Tomorrow and Friday are Parent Days at my preschool, so I worked some extra time today tidying the room up a bit, and cleaning paint from pretty much everywhere (I'm still thoroughly amazed how far the kids get it away from the painting areas of the room.) I'll be putting in extra hours for an event on Saturday, called Super Saturday, where all of our rooms will be open, with activities for the under-5 set and their families. Set-up is Friday afternoon and I'll work the event and help with clean-up. Mas dinero towards our hospital and dr bills - yay!

Worked on the taxes. Federal is all done, and we get back just under $2300. This is good, though I'd rather not have such a big amount as this. Still trying to figure out how many withholdings to claim on our w-4, so as to reduce our refund amount. It's on my to-do list! Our state taxes came out fine - we owe $85, so our withholdings are right for state. I just need to check over the state form a final time and everything will be ready to send out.

After I'm totally done with the taxes, I'm going to go over how we spent in January. I especially want to focus on the grocery amount, to see if what we did different in January made a difference. I feel like a lot of people here are far more on top of knowing how they are doing with expenses for their month than I am. But sooner or later, I'll get there! And next month there won't be taxes to contend with.

Oh well, as has been said on this site often - bit by bit, changes for the better (my better!) will be made!

Take care!

I worked extra hours again today. I can't believe how the extra hours have magically become available all of a sudden, especially when I am so open to working them (and need them so much for the extra bills we are currently paying off!)

It's church night tonight so I'm again using my trusty crockpot - ham and scalloped potatoes.

My husband had some potential good news. The company he's with has good record in keeping employees for a long time. He's been there 13 years, and is still considered the 'new guy'. So one of the 'older' guys has decided to take an early retirement, and try out a businees on his own. So my husband's bosses asked if he would like to move up into his position, which would include a pay raise (also an increase in stress.) If it seems worth it, both pay- and stress-wise, maybe he'll take them up on the offer. We shall see...

Now a question on this new blog format - how do you know what categories to choose for an entry? I haven't set up any yet, so maybe the answer is in the setup. I feel like my entries end up being more like a journal of our day, and not too easy to put under one category. But I feel like a slug, leaving everything under 'uncategorized'.

Anyway...take care!

After having a bit of trouble starting up my blog back in December when I first joined, I hope that I'm doing this right.

Anyway, I worked extra hours at work - our school is making some space usage changes, and we're due to be inspected at the month's end. So I went through each classroom, checking that we have all the correct safety & emergency signage. Kind of a funny way to earn money, but I'm game for it! (All the extra hours lately will be a big help on the paycheck, and those upcoming hopital and dr bills in Feb. I'm very thankful.)

Still no 1099 - this is a lesson in patience. Knowing that we'll get a refund makes me anxious to get it to us. Plus I want to refigure our withholdings again, so as to not to get such a big refund. We are a family of six. I have no taxes taken out of my check (being part-time, as well as working only school-year, my check isn't all that big anyway.) When I fill out the w-4 form withholding calculations, well, it just seems like too much. I mean we get 6, obviously. When I figured it out, the form said 12! So I divided the difference and took 9. Still we get around $2600 (no exact figure 'til I get that 1099!) For state, I left us at 6, and we hover around owing $50 to getting $50 back. This is exactly where I like us to be. Oh well, each year I get us a smaller refund, and gives me a challenge to work on, so I don't get bored, I guess.

Have a good evening...take care!

Sent the two oldest off with lunches, and I think it wasn't too bad for them (except that we'll try to pack them the night before - mornings are too crazy!) Still no 1099 - I know we'll receive it before the end of the month, but I'm ready to do up those taxes. I worked extra hours today, so that will be nice on the paycheck. Dinner is in the crockpot - another batch of the minestrone recipe I tried last week. Everyone wanted it again, so I put that together quickly this morning. I have some paid training to go to tonight with a meal provided by my boss. Hopefully the family will save a bowl of the minestrone for my lunch tomorrow. My daughter has to get on the computer, so this is it for now....take care!

Today was pajama day at preschool - the kids always laugh at us teachers in our gear. I even had wild hair that looked like bedhead, though that was not intentional. Visited Mom and she is now allowed full weight on her healing hip - yay! Her physical therapist stopped by to chat, and was proud to announce that Mom walked with her walker this morning for the first time since the accident. Our goal was to get her out of the wheelchair and back to her walker, and she is getting there!

Moneywise news - trying to look over our budgeted expenses some more.

Garbage - We have a city collector, with a reduced charge negotiated with the city. Over the 16-17 years we've had this service, the cost has risen very little. The city added a recycling charge, and probably two price increases for a total of about $2-3 more monthly in all that time - not bad. One of the journalists mentioned cutting their service. We'd still have to pay the recycling charge. While we recycle everything we can (we have curbside pickup every 2 weeks) and compost, I'm not sure what we'd do with the rest of the garbage. But maybe, we can increase our effort to reduce our container size (though the savings for using the smallest one is not much of an incentive - though the environmental incentive is always a good motivator.)

Phone - We have landline and internet service from our local company. I keep talking to my husband about our 'need' for DSL service - but he's not budging. We have basic phone service (the cheapest) and haven't felt a need to have all of the extras that are offered. We have a phone with an answering machine, and it works for us. My husband has a cell from his work, and they pay all expenses (and it's used for work only, though he may carry it for emergency use occasionally - never have used it so far though.) I have a cell phone with a limited plan my husband gets through being on the voluntary police reserve in out town. I like the convenience it offers me for the school to reach me about sick kids and for the nursing home staff who care for my mom to be able to reach me, wherever I am during the day (I switch schools during the day many times for work.) I don't use it to have long conversations, but for those quick calls. My two oldest daughters have pay-as-you-go phones from their aunt (she graciously supplies the phone cards too.) I looked into that kind of service for me, but found for the usage I have each month, I'd pay double what I am now. I do use those phones to call to my brother and family in Alaska. We email each other regularly, but make an occasional call, and that's the cheapest way for us to call there.

Today's mail brought more w-2s, so on to more tax compiling...take care!

Pretty good day today. I worked preschool in the morning, and then intermediate school in the afternoon. I was greeted by a few people who want to take advantage of my afternoon availability for subbing- I say yes! (February bills beware!)

The minestrone was wonderful last night - my family all loved it, and there was only one bowl left for my lunch today. Definitely a keeper crockpot recipe. Next soup I want to try is the lentil one mentioned in the food forum. Tonight we had homemade pizza - no leftovers either. It helps that I limit the girls on their afternoon snack - sometimes even eliminating it altogether if we're having an early supper. They eat more dinner, that's for sure.

Not much money-wise to report, except that it was a no spend day, while being a good earning day. Tomorrow I plan to add up receipts for tax time, and remind my husband to check on his pension from his former employer (I do most money matters at our house, but once in a while I come across an account that will only speak to the owner - no problem, except to get him to do it...)

I'll visit my mom too tomorrow. She broke a hip in early Dec, so I'll have to check with the nurses as to how her latest followup dr visit went (she has Alzheimer's and won't remember going to the dr, or even that she broke the hip - she very much lives in the moment.) I also received her newest med insurance card, so need to get the nursing home a copy of the card.

This evening still holds spelling lists study for two daughters, folding the laundry and thinking what we'll have for dinner tomorrow (hmmm - maybe another crockpot meal - I have the makings of a creamy mushroom swiss steak recipe.) My two youngest girls both have their girl scout meetings from late afternoon to after dinner, so a quick dinner is in order. My oldest will be coming home soon from confirmation, and will NEED the computer. And then slowly, one by one the girls will go to bed, followed soon by their parents!

Well, whew!....take care!

Went to work, then came home to work on my to-do list. Today I got a bit accomplished...some of those things that aren't a lot of fun to do, but are wonderful to cross off the list!

We have new medical and dental insurance as of Jan 1, so I had to have the clinic we go to write up 7 new prescriptions for mail-order (90-day supply with 3 refills.) I received those in the mail at the end of last week, only to find out that after trying to calculate the costs for the mail-order forms that one drug isn't on the formulary and one is actually cheaper filling it monthly at our local pharmacy. (I'm glad for the cheaper price, but do like the convenience of the mail-order.) We need to talk to my husband's dr about an alternative and mine for a new script for monthly. Today, I sent out 3 prescriptions for $150. The rest will go in on next pay period. (While I'm thankful for the good insurance we had/have, I dream of having the same medical insurance for more than a year at a time. I'm not sure how I would spend those first few weeks in Jan, if that were to happen!)

I also caught my bills and checkbook up for this week. (Part of my unwritten goals for this year - keep on top of that checkbook, so I know where we're at.) I also reconciled the checkbook to the latest bank statement. Over the holidays, I sort of piled my paid bills and statements, rather than file them. So I filed what needed to be, pulled out papers to be shredded from the cabinet, and gathered together the receipts to add up for tax time. Just waiting on a couple more items for tax time - oh, yeah!

I also arranged some extra hours at work over the next few weeks - I work in two preschool classes for our school district, but our early childhood program has a lot of events coming up, so I'll take as many hours as I can get. I also got a call from our intermediate school, and will work there in the special ed dept - one of my favorite places to sub. So more hours... all for a good cause - improving our financial picture bit by bit! With our hospital and dr bills from Nov, this will be welcome, that's for sure.

I started dinner this morning in the crockpot- a new recipe for minestrone. It smells wonderful! There is a little leftover lasagne from a couple days ago (not enough to freeze for another meal) and a salad and bread.

Good evening to you all...take care!